Road Trip - Maryland! (Day 6-7)

May 30, 2013 (Thursday)

Heading back near the DC area our first stop was Greenbelt Park.  The park has camping, hiking, biking and picnicking.  We did not really check out the park much, it seemed mostly like a city park. There were not any displays at the visitor center.

Fort Washington

Continuing south, we stopped at Fort Washington Park. We headed to the visitor center to get some information about the site. There was a ten minute film about the history of the fort.  The film was dated but, decent. There are a lot of picnic areas at the site. Fort Washington is one of only a couple of U.S. seacoast fortifications that is still in its original form. Some portions of the fort are open for viewing. Allowing an hour at the site was adequate to read posted information and check out the fort.

We continued south to Piscataway Park. There is a small visitor site that does not really have much to offer.  Piscataway is across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. The park is partnered with The Accokeek Foundation, which operates the National Colonial Farm and the Ecosystem Farm.  It appeared that the Farms were mostly there for school groups – there was nothing going on during our visit. There are some hiking trails at the site and a fishing pier.



Annapolis - The Maryland State House

The last NPS site visit for the day was the Thomas Stone National Historic Site.  Thomas Stone was one of the 1776 signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Had he lived longer he probably would have gone on to bigger and better things.  He died at the age of 44. While at the site you are able to view the interior of the home “Haberdeventure” and learn about Thomas Stone. The park guided tour lasted about 45 minutes.

Before heading back to the campground, we headed to Annapolis – to visit the capitol, or as they call it “The Maryland State House”! The streets around the state house are brick and there are tons of little shops in the area. Annapolis has more original 18^th century structures standing that any other city in the United States.  The Maryland State House is the oldest state capitol still in continuous legislative use and it is also the only to serve as the nation’s capitol.  Annapolis is home to the United States Naval Academy. The third oldest college in the US - St. John’s College is also located in Annapolis.  I would love to go back and check out the area more!

May 31, 2013 (Friday)

Baltimore here we come!  We started the day at the Hampton National Historic Site. The home is a Georgian mansion that is very beautiful. The mansion was built at the county seat after the Revolutionary War by a prominent Maryland family.  You are able to view the grounds on your own, but if you would like to see the inside you must go on a tour. The tour is free and last about an hour. The tour really focuses on the people that lived in the home – while interesting, the tour seemed to drag on.

Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine was the last NPS stop of the trip. Fort McHenry is the only NPS location that is both a National Monument and Historic Shrine. There was a really good video about the fort at the visitor center – definitely worth viewing. The cost to enter the fort is $7/adult, kids get in for free. The park also accepts the NPS passes.  

Had Francis Scott Key not wrote what is known as “The Star-Spangled Banner” the battle that took place probably would not be as well known. The fort is in very good condition with many of the buildings have displays and/or videos. 

Next stop – downtown Baltimore! We parked in a surface lot and ventured out by foot. First stop - the Hard Rock Café so Mike could add to his zippo collection.  After wandering around a bit we decided to go to the aquarium. The aquarium was a bit pricey - $34.95 for adults (12-64), $21.95 for kids (3-11), $29.95 seniors (65+). The aquarium was very well laid out with lots of things to see – Australian river gorge, Atlantic coral reef, tropical rain forest, and of course many fish, dolphins and sharks. Per the National Aquarium website you should allow about 3 hours to see everything. I’d say we were there for about that long.

After leaving the aquarium, we headed to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We arrived early enough to be able to order from the lunch menu – which serves items with more than enough to fill you up. I had the pizza/salad and Mike had a chicken pasta dish. For dessert, we split a piece of Red Velvet Cheesecake – yum!

Prior to our trip, we noticed that the Detroit Tigers were going to be playing the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards so we decided to get tickets. Stub Hub had many seats available. Our seats were okay (section 49, row 12), but we were back a little too far so we could not see the scoreboard.  The stadium was pretty neat, much narrower than Comerica Park in Detroit. The Tigers lost but it was a good game right down to the top of the 9^th inning.

The baseball game was the last event for our vacation…after one last night at the campground we headed home. The drive home was smooth sailing.

Stay tuned for our next adventure!